Review by Michael on February 14, 2026.

Hieron is a relatively new band from Saxony, from where since the 90s there have always come some quite remarkable black metal bands. Sometimes these bands have a slightly questionable background when it comes to their Weltanschauung, but because I stumbled over the band in one of the biggest German online mags, I guess there is nothing to complain about the guys.

And so it is musically, also. Kicking off with an opulent Hellraiser-like intro the guys soon deliver some badass old-school black metal on their debut album "From The Temple To The Grave". When I read something about the old Emperor and Satyricon that makes me curious about the band, but I actually cannot find too many similarities to these bands. Nevertheless they are deeply rooted in the 90s, but closer to Mayhem, Gorgoroth and all of them that didn't use any keyboards or cared too much about melodic parts. At least this counts for the first three songs.

Hieron (which means "shelter" in Greek by the way) combine a nice mixture of many styles, in some songs they even tend to move more into black-death (for example "Reverance Lost") and sometimes even quite close to war metal. So all this isn't the easiest listening record but once you get into it, you will like it if you prefer some rough and brutal black metal stuff without too many changes in the first songs.

Here and there you have some Easter eggs that offer some innuendos to some big ones in the scene (the intro in "Forever Scorned" should be well-known for everybody) and with that song the band starts to be more diverse on the album.

From there they incorporate some more catchy parts into the songs and also the vocals start to be a little bit more varied (and remind me a lot of the first Nastrond album, if anyone remembers this gem). Still it stays that grim black metal but with a more modern touch peppered with a lot of tremolo picks like in "Unholy Immolation" but also incorporating German influences like Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult or Sarkrista and Finnish black metal like Sargeist or Horna. The title track is the best example for this, here you can clearly hear all these influences I just mentioned. Also this is the most diverse track on the album with many breaks and the melodies they obviously have saved for that track.

The production is well executed, "From The Temple To The Grave" sounds quite dynamic, not too cold and also not muffled. The instruments are clearly recognizable and also the vocals are recorded with a very good sound quality.

Altogether Hierons debut has become a very solid album with a few issues to instantly fall in love with (I guess hate is the better term for black metal though), but it still is much better than many releases that are spawned every month.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by Anna on February 1, 2012.

“In The Chapel Of The Black Hand” is the third full-length from UK-based “apocalyptic” Doom act The Wounded Kings. This review is free from any notions of and comparisons to their previous work, to which I have not been acquainted.

The Wounded Kings have all the awesome and cliché elements that create this darker brand of Doom- Hammond organ, heavy guitars, a lead vocalist that can command your attention (but doesn’t always). As such there’s a very cliché feel to this whole album, which at first I felt was pretty mild, but as the songs progressed there were in fact a few “areas” that got pretty warm. The vocals are the real stand-out here amongst all the other players. This chick Sharie has a laid back approach with her melodies that work, but leaves room for more risks. Her vocals have this flat, almost throaty quality that is toned down with a tinge of vibrato- very cool, almost like a light fuzz. It works extremely well in some parts, but that flat, almost nagging quality is too much to layer on to each song. I feel myself a little uncomfortable and worn out on it, craving something a little earthier, something fuller to counter the heaviness. Although I have to say… it works like a charm on the track two outro.

I mean, that shit is incredible, and the risk-taking is definitely there. It’s got all the qualities of greatness and madness I think they’re striving for, even though I feel it could be even more powerful. This outro-'Gates Of Oblivion' titled '(III) The Arrival', is for me the best part of the entire album. It embodies the sprouting, potential greatness of this band.

The Wounded Kings has a pretty dark aesthetic- the music, the visuals, the words… there’s a skull on the cover, I heard something about Lucifer in there. I don’t know what they’re into philosophically but at least on a sound level it seems that they haven’t yet had their enlightenment cherry popped, but have certainly fooled around. This is a band to definitely watch out for.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 7
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 8
Originality: 7
Overall: 7.5

Rating: 7.5 out of 10